2011-01-21
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we looked at the question: Do we give Christ a chance? Now, I am led to turn to the big issue of how God obligates Himself to sinners. He has told us why He does this in JN 6: 39-40 and EPH 1: 4-5, “And it is the will of Him Who sent Me that I should not lose any of all those He has given Me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. For what My Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on that last day…Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be His through our union with Christ, so that we would be hold and without fault before Him. Because of His love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us His sons-this was His pleasure and purpose.” If we look at the issue from our point of view, it is hard to trust a God one doesn’t know. To better understand this view of things, it’s helpful to examine what is actually happening in this process. 2 COR 5: 17 and COL 3: 9-10 help us to do it. “When anyone is joined to Christ, He is a new creation, the old is gone; the new has come…Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits and have put on the new self. This is the new creation which God, it’s Creator, is constantly renewing in His own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of Himself.” Please believe me when I say that doing this for some is on-going, hard work for God, myself at the top of the list. I remain stunned that God loves me enough to keep at it. But our God is both righteous and tenacious.
Another question must be asked at this juncture. Why does God allow adversity? How appropriate that He brings me to this query at this time, when one of our closest friends in life is poised to mount a battle against a mean form of cancer for his life! This is a friend, who with his wife, are our closest friends, and we love them both. There is something called the “Refiner’s fire” which God allows us to go through with the hope of fulfilling two important purposes: 1) to test our faith and show us how strong it is, and 2) to allow us to discover abilities He built in to us that we can use for His purposes-abilities we didn’t know we had. Our faith is tested. 1 PET 1: 4-7, “And so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for His people. He keeps them for you in heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away. They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God’s power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time. Be glad about this, even thought it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed .”
By far, this is not the only place in the Scriptures where the Refiner’s fire is discussed. ZECH 13: 8-9 helps us to understand who of the traditional Jews left during the Tribulation period will be saved. Despite being in the OT, we have been told in the few previous verses that a command will be given to kill God’s Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. Then, in ZECH 13: 8-9, we learn…”And throughout the land two-thirds of the people will die. And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to Me, and I will answer them. I will tell them they are My people, and they will confess that I am their God.” [If we review JER 31: 33-34, we will see the consistency of this passage].
Our own work will be tested too. 1 COR 3 :13-15, “And the quality of each person’s work will be seen when the Day of Christ exposes it. For on that Day fire will reveal everyone’s work; the fire will test it and show it’s real quality. If what was built on the foundation survives the fire, the builder will receive a reward. But if anyone’s work is burnt up, then he will lose it; but he himself will be saved, as if he had escaped through the fire.” Our reputation will also be tested. PR 27: 21, “Fire tests gold and silver; a person’s reputation can also be tested.” Not only our reputations, but also our very lives will be tested to strengthen them. PS 66: 10-12, “You have put us to us to the test, God; as silver is purified by fire, so You have tested us. You let us fall into a trap and placed heavy burden on our backs. You let our enemies trample us; we went through fire and flood, but now You have brought us to a Place of Safety.” That is what He is doing with our dear friend and with all the emotions of those who love him, including our own. It’s tough to step out of the “belly of the beast” and step back enough to be objective without the help of His word to guide us. And to think, God doesn’t just do this once in our lives. He may do it multiple times, just as He did with me and my friends when I was going through my life-threatening surgery back in ’06. When one steps back enough to look at God’s perspective, something very hard to do in the throes of emotion, he can see that even what we see as the worst outcome, the physical death of a believing loved one, his survivors know exactly where that loved one has gone and that he is now fully healed, at peace with the Father in heaven.
PRAYER: O Lord, where I have left off today is not an easy place. And yet, it’s not the hardest place we can be. You have a reason for every decision You make, every action You take. We are not always able to understand that, but it leaves us in a place where we must rely on our faith in Your Son. You want to us know and understand You, but such understanding must come with gradual spiritual maturation. It isn’t had overnight. It isn’t had easily. No matter how low/narrow the pit we find ourselves in, You are always here for us. PS 40: 1-2, “I waited patiently for the Lord’s help; then He listened to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a Rock and made me secure.” That Rock is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself the Rock and Refuge You give us. PS 40: 6-9, “You do not want sacrifices and offerings; You do not ask for animals burned whole on the altar or for sacrifices to take away sins. Instead, You have given me ears to hear You, and so I answered, ‘Here I am; Your instructions for me are in the book of the Law. How I love to do Your will, my God! I keep Your teaching in my heart.’ In the assembly of all Your people, Lord, I told the Good News that You save us. You know that I will never stop telling it.” We should and will end with this expression from our hearts of our faith. PS 40: 11, “Lord, I know You will never stop being merciful to me. Your love and loyalty will always keep me safe.” We understand that every decision You make is righteous and in our best eternal interests. We must go forth with strong faith, even through our understanding of Your ways isn’t always total. We lift up our hands in thanks and praise for Your mighty presence and intervention in our lives and those of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. In His mighty and holy name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: This question: Why does God allow adversity? is so important that we must spend another devotion on it. Space limitations leave me cutting this one off in an awkward place, but rest assured, we will have more to examine on this important subject. There isn’t a true believer who hasn’t, to at least some degree, gone through the Refiner’s fire. The exact manner God accomplishes these tests of our faith and leading us to self-discovery is different for each person; God knows us better than we know ourselves, so He designs our tests to fit our personalities and His needs. He develops our faith in accordance with the way and for which purpose He created us. Yes, Dear Readers, God is wise beyond our imaginations. The word “omniscient” really does mean all-knowing. No other entity in the universe can claim omniscience except God. Along the way, I’ve found Him to be pretty good Company too. PS 147: 5, “Great and mighty is our Lord; His wisdom cannot be measured. RO 5: 10-11, “We were God’s enemies , but He made us His friends through the death of His Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life! But that is not all: we rejoice because of what God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has now made us God’s friends.” One of the pits I was in was total ignorance of God’s presence in my life for the first 25 years of it. I was feeling miserable, but really didn’t understand all the reasons why. Now that I have a rich faith-life, I can still feel pain from disappointments, illness, and the other normal problems of life, but He has given me- and will give each of you- His perspective on these things. Now, that’s a different and better way of dealing with our challenges! We must each thank and praise our amazing God for His presence and intervention in our lives!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15